Consciousness: its goals, its functions and the emergence of a new category of selection.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci November 13, 2025 Eva Jablonka, Simona Ginsburg 3 citations
Consciousness in living organisms introduced new goals and functions, leading to a new form of selection called mental selection. This process involves choices guided by conscious perception and affective evaluation, expanding natural and sexual-social selection and providing a foundation for human artificial selection. The functional effects of consciousness were enabled by unlimited associative learning (UAL), which allows animals to discriminate complex percepts, engage in flexible goal-directed behavior, and adapt to diverse conditions. UAL-based signal selection in predator-prey, sexual, and social interactions drove the evolution of perceptual, emotional, and motor patterns that first appeared in the Cambrian era and later supported the development of imaginative animals and reflective humans.